Part of the charm of old houses is the odd sorts of devices some of them come equipped with -- servants' bells in the kitchen, a dumbwaiter, a skylight with a vent on a string. It's always nice to be able to restore a bit of the past, even if it's just for decoration.
However, not all such devices can or should be restored -- as a reader in Catonsville may attest.
"We have a 70-year-old house with an old gas fireplace," she writes. "Unfortunately, there is no chimney or vent to the outside. . . .The pipe for the gas comes up through the floor and is sealed off (by the original owner). We also have the original porcelain gas logs with a hole to hook up the gas line.
"We have contacted several plumbers and heating contractors about hooking up the gas and received different opinions. We are in Baltimore County (Catonsville), but very close to the city line. One contractor told us it is illegal in Baltimore city to have it hooked up (because of the fumes), but not in Baltimore County.
"Our regular plumber won't do it because he feels it's dangerous to breathe gas fumes without a vent. Yet other, larger contractors say it's OK to do because we live in the county. Needless to say, we are confused!"
Whether the gas fireplace logs can legally be hooked up again depends on two things, according to Samuel Bayne, chief plumbing inspector for Baltimore County: the type of the unit and size of the room.
"If it's an AGA unit, and it's under 22,000 Btu's," it's OK to hook up the logs, he said. AGA is the American Gas Association, which rates the safety of such devices. If the log unit has been certified as safe by the AGA, it will have a label on it saying so.
While it's true that the city doesn't allow any type of unvented heating device, the county allows units less than 22,000 Btu's as long as the room offers the correct ratio of air to heating units.
To burn safely, you need 50 square feet of air space in the room for every 1,000 Btu's of the device.
Only a master plumber or master pipefitter can hook up the gas-fireplace devices, Mr. Bayne said, and they are supposed to pull a permit from the county before doing so. When the installation is complete, it has to be "signed off" as properly and safely installed by a plumbing supervisor. Work that is done under permit probably would not be challenged by a home inspector, he said.
Whether the gas-log device should be hooked up again is a question of safety.
One problem with old gas devices is that often the gas can be turned on easily -- perhaps even by a child. Our advice is to err on the side of caution. If the device doesn't have some safety feature that prevents it from being turned on accidentally, it's probably not a good idea to hook it up, even if it's possible or legal.